Dampening system for a manure injection system

ABSTRACT

A swivel bar is operatively connected by a bracket assembly to a toolbar, such that the swivel bar pivots back and forth in the horizontal plane about a pivot. A resilient device is positioned inside the swivel bar where the pivot is combined to the bracket assembly and extends through the swivel bar. At least one agricultural implement and preferably two agricultural implements are connected to the swivel bar on opposite sides of the pivot.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/406,719 filed Aug. 19, 2021 which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 63/195,468 filed Jun. 1, 2021, whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to agricultural implements, and, morespecifically, the present disclosure relates to a toolbar which providesa horizontal dampening system.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Historically, livestock waste, particularly in solid form, has beenspread on the surface of the soil by a manure spreader using a flail tofling the material to the rear. A more modem side-discharge spreaderalso discharges the material on the surface of the soil. The advent ofconfinement systems for animals, which include pits below theconfinement area, produces a large amount of animal waste, which must behandled and disposed of in a slurry form. Typically, the slurry ispumped into a large tank carried by a wagon, but it is still, for themost part, spread or sprayed on the surface of the soil.

This procedure has, as a principle objection, a strong odor, whichresides after the waste is spread. Moreover, surface spreading of animalwaste creates a hazard with the potential runoff of nitrates into riversand streams or seeping of the material into ground water. This isobjectionable because livestock waste is high in nitrogen, and withincreasing concern with the quality of drinking water, this procedure isbecoming less and less acceptable.

Various methods have been proposed for depositing the slurry into theground. An improved device and method was previously disclosed by theinventor in U.S. Pat. No. 8,550,019 titled, Slurry Applicator for anAgriculture Machine. This device deposits slurry into the ground bycutting a trough in the ground surface soil with a rotating member,displacing a majority the soil from the trough upwardly and airbornewith respect to the ground surface, and directing the soil downward intothe trough after the slurry has been deposited therein to cover theslurry with the soil.

Improvements to these machines include, for example, self-centeringpivots, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,137,938. This unit,however, is expensive and complex to manufacture. Accordingly, there isa need for a horizontal dampening system in the agriculture machine thatdampens the horizontal movement of the row unit as it travels thecontours of a field.

SUMMARY

According to this disclosure, a manure injection system is disclosed.The manure injecting system comprises of a toolbar operatively connectedto a tanker or tractor by a hitch. A swivel bar is operatively connectedby a bracket assembly to the toolbar, such that the swivel bar pivotsback and forth in the horizontal plane about a pivot. A resilient deviceis positioned inside the swivel bar where the pivot is combined to thebracket assembly and extends through the swivel bar. At least oneagricultural implement and preferably two agricultural implements areconnected to the swivel bar on opposite sides of the pivot.

In an embodiment, the resilient device is a torsion block, which can befully contained inside the swivel bar. The resilient device can comprisean outer casing comprising a plurality of sides, an inner tubecomprising a plurality of sides, and a plurality of inserts each one ofwhich is positioned between one of the plurality of sides of the innertube and the outer casing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will bebetter understood by reading the following detailed description, takentogether with the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a manure injection system according to thisdisclosure.

FIG. 2 is a close-up view of a manure injector of the manure injectionsystem of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a dampening system attached to a toolbar.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the dampening system of FIG. 3 .

FIG. 5 is a top cross-sectional view of the dampening system taken fromthe view of 4-4 of FIG. 1 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1 , shown is manure injection system 100 according tothis disclosure. A tractor pulls a tanker 102 full of liquid manureslurry through a field. Attached to the back end of tanker 102 is atoolbar 106 connected by a hitch. At least one manure injector 120 andpreferably a plurality of manure injectors 120 a-120 f are combined totool bar 106 for injecting liquid manure slurry from tanker 102 into theground. Tanker 102 has conventional pumps for moving the slurry throughhoses 110 each of which is connected to a corresponding one of manureinjectors 120 a-120 f on toolbar 106. In other embodiments, tanker 102can be omitted and replaced with a drag-hose where liquid manure slurryis pumped from a pit through long hose to manure injector 120. Acylinder 118 connected between tanker 102 and toolbar 106 when actuatedpushes toolbar 106, and thus manure injectors 120 a-120 f into theground for operation.

Manure injector 120 injects the slurry into ground by creating trench,adding liquid slurry to the trench, and then covering the trench backup. Slurry application or injection can be done in a number of ways, forexample, by dragging a knife through the ground to create the trench orusing a rotating coulter blade to displace the soil to create thetrench.

In the illustrated embodiment, manure injector 120 is comprisedgenerally of a coulter blade 108 to open a trough in the ground, hose110 positioned behind coulter blade 108 to deposit slurry into thetrough, and a pair of containment wheels 112 to cover the trough. U.S.Pat. No. 8,550,019 titled, Slurry Applicator for an Agriculture Machinedescribes more particularly the operation of manure injector 120illustrated herein, which patent is hereby incorporated by referenceherein.

Toolbar 106 extends lengthwise and perpendicular to the direction oftravel of tanker 102. In the conventional manner, manure injectors 120a-120 f are spaced approximately thirty inches apart correspondingroughly to the distance between rows in a field along a toolbar 106. Aperson skilled in the art will readily realize that a number of suchunits can be located in spaced relation, side by side, and at anylateral spacing desired by the farmer or operator. As the number ofmanure injectors 120 increases, one of the problems that is introducedis the ability to properly steer all manure injectors 120. This may beespecially problematic where contour farming practices are followed,maneuvering around objects in the field, or where the ground is uneven,or other irregularities are present.

To overcome this problem a dampening system 130 is connected betweentoolbar 106 and manure injector 120. As can be seen more clearly in FIG.2 , in the illustrated embodiment, two manure injectors 120 e, 120 f canbe connected by respective brackets 131 to dampening system 130.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of dampening system 130 attached to toolbar 106. Dampening system 130 includes generally a swivel bar 134connected to a bracket assembly 132 by a pivot assembly 137. FIG. 4shows an exploded view of dampening system 130. From this view it can beseen that dampening system 132 comprises of a pivot 170 biased againstan internal resilient device 136 which allows swivel bar 134 to pivotback and forth about pivot 170 in the horizontal plane.

More specifically, dampening system 130 comprises of a bracket assembly132, which is designed to attach dampening system 130 to toolbar 106, aswivel bar 134 to which at least one manure injector 120 is attached,and a resilient device 136 positioned between bracket assembly 132 andswivel bar 134 to urge swivel bar 134 back to position.

Bracket assembly 132 more specifically comprises of a back plate 140that abuts to toolbar 106 and is configured for receiving fasteners 144to attach bracket assembly 132 to toolbar 106. In the illustratedembodiment, fasteners 144 are u-bolts inserted through holes 142 in backplate 140 and attached by nuts 143. While bracket assembly 132 can beattached to toolbar 106 in any number of ways, doing so in the mannershown in the illustrated embodiment makes dampening system 130 easilyadjustable laterally side-to-side along toolbar 106.

A pair of mounting plates 146, which are spaced apart vertically andpositioned on opposite sides of swivel bar 134, are attached to backplate 140. Mounting plates 146 can be attached directly to back plate140 or combined via laterally spaced apart support members 148 that arecombined on opposite sides of mounting plates 146 and combined to backplate 140. In the illustrated embodiment, support members 148 are weldedto back plate 140 and mounting plates 146 are welded to support members148. Each mounting plate of pair of mounting plates 146 comprises of athrough hole 150 which is aligned with a through hole 152 in swivel bar134.

Inside swivel bar 134 is resilient device 136. Resilient device 136 ispositioned between swivel bar 134 and bracket assembly 132 to urge theswivel bar back to position. In a neutral, toolbar 106 extends laterallyand perpendicular with respect to the direction of travel of the tractorthrough the field. Swivel bar 134 similarly, in the neutral position,extends parallel with respect to toolbar 106 and perpendicular withrespect to the direction of travel. Any oscillations, jostling of swivelbar 134 will be absorbed and dampened by resilient device 136 as itpivots in the horizontal plane.

Resilient device 136 can comprise a torsion block 160 which comprises ofan outer casing 162 comprising a plurality of sides, an inner tube 164comprising a plurality of sides, and a plurality of inserts 166 each oneof which is positioned between one of the plurality of sides of innertube 164 and outer casing 162. In the illustrated embodiment, outercasing 162 of torsion block 160 comprises four sides, and inner tube 164comprises four sides. Inner tube 164 is rotated forty five degrees (45°)with respect to outer casing 162 such that each one of the four sides ofinner tube 164 is rotated forty five degrees with respect to acorresponding one of the four sides of outer casing 162. A correspondingfour inserts 166 are shown each one of which is positioned between oneof the four sides of inner tube 164 and outer casing 162. While foursides for each of outer casing 162 and inner tube 164 are shown, oneskilled in the art will recognize that other geometric cross-sectionscan be provided to decrease or increase the number of sides.

Generally stated, with reference to FIG. 5 , torsion block 160 isillustrated with having two square cross section tubes (outer casing 162and inner tube 164). The cross section tube comprising outer casing 162,is about twice as large as that of inner tube 164 such that inner tube164 fits within outer casing 162 oriented at 45 degrees between the flatfaces of the respective outer casing 162 and inner tube 164. In thismanner, inner tube 164 appears like a diamond within the square crosssection of outer casing 162 with four empty spaces surrounding innertube 164. Four inserts 166, which can be made of an elastomeric materialsuch as a polymer or rubber are inserted into these four spaces.

Returning to FIG. 4 , a pivot 170 from pivot assembly 137 extendsthrough through hole 150 of pair of mounting plates 146 and throughinner tube 164 of torsion block 160. Pivot 170 can comprises of across-section comprising a plurality of sides equal to the number ofsides of inner tube 164. Torque is thus transmitted from swivel bar 134to pivot 170 through inserts 166, which absorb both torsion shock andside-to-side oscillating loads and urges swivel bar 134 back to itssteady state position.

Pivot assembly 137 further comprises of a pair of bushings 172 on pivot170 positioned on opposite sides of swivel bar 134. Bushings 172 can bewear devices made of a plastic or nylon material. A pair of wear pads174 are also positioned on pivot 170 to rest in contact with the outersurface of swivel bar 134. Similarly wear pads 174 can be made ofplastic or nylon. A pair of washers 154 can be welded on the top andbottom of swivel bar 134 aligned with through hole 152 to increase thesurface area and strength around through hole 152 of swivel bar 134.Each washer of pair of washers 154 can abut against the correspondingwear pad of pair of wear pads 174 to prevent metal on metal contact.

Pivot assembly 137 is fixed to bracket assembly 132. In the illustratedembodiment, a plate 176 is attached to the top of pivot 170 and fixed toone of pair of mounting plates 146 of bracket assembly 132. In thisarrangement, as can be seen in FIG. 5 , swivel bar 134 pivots laterallyin the horizontal plane about pivot 170 with any jostling oroscillations absorbed by resilient device 136. In order to limit theamount of travel of swivel bar 134, a stop 149 can attached betweenbracket assembly 132 and swivel bar 134. In the illustrated embodiment,stop 149 is attached to a cross plate 147 that extends between spacedapart support members 148 of bracket assembly 132. Stop 149 can beimplemented as a pair of members attached to spaced apart supportmembers 148 with one on each side of swivel bar 134. In operation,swivel bar 134 can pivot twenty degrees (Θ in FIG. 5 ) in each directionlimited by stop 149. In other embodiments, swivel bar 134 can pivot atan angle Θ of one degree to thirty degrees (including any value inbetween) each direction limited by stop 149.

One of the advantages of resilient device 136 is that it is fullycontained inside swivel bar 134 to protect resilient device 136 fromdust in the field. Farming, especially hauling, spreading or injectingliquid manure is dust, dirty and messy. Any exposed parts aresusceptible to corrosion or abrasion. With resilient device 136implemented as torsion block 160, inserts 166 are insulated from theouter environment by swivel bar 134 and outer casing 162.

Various modifications are envisioned to dampening system 130 disclosedherein. Resilient device 136 can also be implemented as one or morebiasing members, such as spring, a cylinder (hydraulic or pneumatic), ora resilient material such as rubber or polymer or the like. When swivelbar 134 pivots laterally about pivot 170, resilient device 136 iscompressed and its resiliency urges it back to its steady state positionthus forcing swivel bar 134 back to its lateral position that isgenerally perpendicular with respect to the direction of travel. Anytype of resilient device 136 is contemplated in this disclosure.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the foregoing disclosure isequally applicable to any agricultural implement connected to toolbar106. While the illustrated embodiment shows the agricultural implementimplemented as manure injector 120 connected to toolbar 106 any type ofagricultural implement useful for agricultural operations can be used,such working tools include, but are not limited to, other types ofmanure injectors, manure applicators, tillers, planters, and the like.

While the principles of the invention have been described herein, it isto be understood by those skilled in the art that this description ismade only by way of example and not as a limitation as to the scope ofthe invention. Other embodiments are contemplated within the scope ofthe present invention in addition to the exemplary embodiments shown anddescribed herein. Modifications and substitutions by one of ordinaryskill in the art are considered to be within the scope of the presentinvention, which is not to be limited except by the following claims.

We claim:
 1. A dampening system for at least one agricultural implement, the dampening system comprising: a swivel bar operatively connected to the at least one agricultural implement; a bracket assembly configured to combine the swivel bar to the tool bar; a pivot combined to the bracket assembly and extending through the swivel bar; a resilient device positioned inside the swivel bar between the pivot and the swivel bar to urge the swivel bar back to position.
 2. The dampening system of claim 1, wherein the resilient device is a torsion block.
 3. The dampening system of claim 2, wherein the torsion block further comprises: an outer casing comprising a plurality of sides; an inner tube comprising a plurality of sides; and a plurality of inserts each one of which is positioned between one of the plurality of sides of the inner tube and the outer casing.
 4. The dampening system of claim 3, wherein the outer casing of the torsion block further comprises four sides; and wherein the inner tube further comprises four sides; and further comprising four inserts each one of which positioned between one of the four sides of the inner tube and the outer casing.
 5. The dampening system of claim 4, wherein the inner tube is rotated forty five degrees with respect to the outer casing such that each one of the four sides of the inner tube is rotated forty five degrees with respect to a corresponding one of the four sides of the outer casing.
 6. The dampening system of claim 3, wherein the pivot extends through the inner tube of the torsion block.
 7. The dampening system of claim 3, wherein when the swivel bar rotates with respect to the pivot and the torsion block dampens movement of the swivel bar and urges it back to position.
 8. The dampening system of claim 3, wherein the torsion block is fully contained in the swivel bar to protect the plurality of inserts inside the torsion block from dust.
 9. The dampening system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of inserts each comprise elastomeric inserts each of which when compressed returns to its normal state.
 10. The dampening system of claim 1, wherein the bracket assembly further comprises of a pair of mounting plates spaced apart vertically and positioned on opposite sides of the swivel bar each of which comprising a through hole aligned with the pivot which extends there-through.
 11. The dampening system of claim 10, wherein the resilient device comprises of a torsion block comprising of an outer casing comprising a plurality of sides, an inner tube comprising a plurality of sides, and a plurality of inserts each one of which is positioned between one of the plurality of sides of the inner tube and the outer casing, and wherein the pivot extends through the through hole in the pair of mounting plates and through the inner tube of the torsion block.
 12. The dampening system of claim 11, wherein the pivot comprises of a cross-section comprising a plurality of sides equal to the plurality of sides of the inner tube.
 13. The dampening system of claim 12, wherein the inner tube comprises four sides and the pivot comprises four sides.
 14. The dampening system of claim 13, wherein the pivot is fixed to the bracket assembly.
 15. The dampening system of claim 14, wherein the pivot is fixed to one of the pair of mounting plates of the bracket assembly.
 16. The dampening system of claim 14, and further comprising: a pair of bushings disposed on the pivot and positioned between the pivot and the inner tube of the resilient device; and a pair of wear plates disposed on the pivot and positioned between the a pair of mounting plates and the swivel bar.
 17. The dampening system of claim 1, wherein the swivel bar is adapted to receive two agricultural implements with one agricultural implement attached to each side of the swivel bar separated by the pivot.
 18. The dampening system of claim 1, wherein the agricultural implement is a manure injector.
 19. A manure injection system comprising: a toolbar operatively connected to a tanker by a hitch; a bracket assembly connected to the toolbar; a swivel bar pivotally connected to the toolbar for pivoting in a horizontal plane; a resilient device positioned inside the swivel bar; a pivot combined to the bracket assembly and extending through the swivel bar; and at least one agricultural implement connected to the swivel bar.
 20. The manure injection system of claim 19, wherein the resilient device is a torsion block that comprises: an outer casing comprising a plurality of sides; an inner tube comprising a plurality of sides; and a plurality of inserts each one of which is positioned between one of the plurality of sides of the inner tube and the outer casing. 